The Master and the Mistress
by Viral
Summary: It's an incontrovertible truth that Storm and Magneto were meant to be, but Storm turns villain when she realizes the fallacy and futility of Xavier's tactics.
1. Had to See You

**Title: **The Master and the Mistress

**Author: **Viral

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to whoever holds the copyright.

-=-=-=-

The X-Men looked ahead in a mood that could not be mistaken: annoyance. How many times would they have to defeat Magneto until he got the point? How many times would they be taken from their daily activities to save mankind, _again_? Cyclops put the jet in a temporary autopilot command before he stood up to address the team of mutants. Storm remained in her seat as she kept her eye on everything as co-pilot.

"When we get out there I want the team to split up," Cyclops explained in his serious, preppy tone. "Jean, Beast, Jubilee, and Iceman will come with me on a frontal assault against Magneto. Storm will take Gambit, Rogue, and Wolverine with her to handle Toad and Sabretooth. Storm's team will also be required to get the civilians away from any harm."

"Whatever bub," Wolverine growled. "Creed is mine," a sound of adamantium claws tearing through skin and leather was heard as Wolverine angrily snarled and grimaced.

"We wouldn't have it any other way, buddy," Iceman chuckled as he put his foot on the chair in front of him and relaxed for the rest of the flight.

-=-=-

"Be alert," Storm warned as her team of X-Men entered a dark warehouse. She stopped in her tracks as she felt a sudden shift in the air. Her blue eyes scanned the dark room. She held up her arm, ordering her team to stop moving forward and was met with a growl by Wolverine, confirming her suspicions that their enemies were inside.

"Wolverine," a voice whispered in the shadows before a heinous cackle was heard. Shadows began to move quickly, going from one side of the room to the other in a quick frenzy. Tensions grew high above the X-Men as their bodies made a circle, faces outward as each eye vigorously scanned the room. Then, with a sudden and thunderous growl, Sabretooth made the first attack, jumping down from a high perch and dragging his claws across Rogue's torso, ripping her attire and drawing blood from her stomach.

A growl, usually heard by a black panther, rolled out of Wolverine's voice box as he jumped after Sabretooth with extended claws and the two ensued in a catfight under the darkness of the warehouse.

"Chere!" Gambit yelled as he noticed Rogue on her knees. He fell on his knees as well, taking hair out of her face as he studied her, "You okay?"

"Ah'm fine, Cajun," she said, with a bit of attitude. "Ah'll be alright. Ah can't believe he got me like that."

"Gambit, Rogue, stay alert!" Storm commanded as she took flight in the darkness. Soon enough a roll of thunder notified Storm's readiness to join the battle. Her body lit up with lightning, channeling itself through and around her body as it lit the entire space. "There you are," she whispered as she spotted Toad.

He leapt from behind a large pile of boxes, using his super strong legs to kick Gambit in the back as he crouched next to Rogue. The Cajun was sent flying and so was Rogue as an unexpected foot kicked her as well. Storm shook her head as the lightning that surrounded her body disappeared. She continued to float, listening to battle cries.

-=-=-

Cyclops' team slowly crept around the dock on the New York Harbor. "This is quite odd," Beast said, looking at his electronic equipment. "It seems as if we have lost communication to the other X-Men yet we don't see any sign of Magneto."

"Ah!" Jean screamed, an ear-piercing soprano, as her body was raised in the air tossed into the water.

"I have her!" Beast noted, the closest to the water's edge as he made an acrobatic leap into the water to rescue Jean. At least that would give Cyclops the opportunity to lead the others in a fight against Magneto.

"X-Men," Magneto said as he floated above them with a smile on his face. His deep voice spoke with cynic and humor as he continued, "How many times must we go through this?"

"As many times as it takes!" Cyclops yelled as he released a powerful optic blast through his visors. The blast met Magneto's force field and caused a laugh to come from Magneto's belly. Jubilee and Iceman joined in the assault, forcing energy at him, aimlessly. At least it seemed like the right thing to do. At this point, Beast and Jean joined the rest of the team back on the dock, water dripping from Jean's hair and clothing and Beast's fur.

"I only need a little time," Magneto smiled as he wrapped Cyclops' team in a magnetic field and sent them flying into an unused iron barge that was floating on the current a few miles away. "Now for more pressing matters to be handled," he smiled as he turned away and floated towards the abandoned warehouse.

-=-=-

Storm, who had been hovering and listening to the battle cries and angry words, was suddenly pulled by a rift of Magnetic energy through a large, open window and into a brightly lit room. "Magneto!"

"Now, Ororo, I told you about calling me that in private," he smiled as he removed his helmet. His white hair stopped at his shoulders and seemed unnatural next to his youthful face and young, muscular build.

"Well, truth be told, _Magneto_, we already know Erik is not your real name," Storm began, blue eyes fixated on his face. "If you are not willing to tell me your real name, then I shall call you Magneto."

"You are stubborn, aren't you?" he smiled, taking her hand in his as they joined in an embrace. She rested her head on his chest and allowed her hands to relax there as well, as he wrapped his muscular arms around her and held her tight. "That's a sweet aroma."

"Why must we keep meeting like this?" Storm asked, part of her mind in another place: a fantasy where she and Magneto were resting in each other's arms without worry. "Surely you can find a way other than knocking my friends around."

"It's easier this way," he said, running his fingers through her silvery hair. He changed the subject while she began to draw circles on his chest with her finger. "You know, we're perfect together, Ororo."

"What made you come to that conclusion?" she asked, stopping her finger as she looked up at his face.

"I'm the Master of Magnetism, you are the Mistress of the Elements – in honesty, we are both one with the primal forces of the Earth. And if we are both one with the Earth, it will only be a matter of time before we become _one_," he said, placing a hand under her chin. Both of their eyes closed as they drew nigh to each other. A slight fluster of wind lifted Storm three inches off of the floor as she met lip-to-lip with Magneto, becoming enraptured in a forsaken kiss.

As if this were all the two had come to do, they parted and looked at each other before turning away. "Make it look good," Magneto smiled before he floated out of the room. A whirlwind ripped the room into shreds as it took Magneto's body and threw him out of the warehouse complex and into the harbor outside.

Cyclops' team, who had just gotten back to shore from the barge, watched as Magneto's body made a splash in the murky water. "Storm's work, no doubt," Jubilee complained, getting ready to go on another one of her tantrums. "I wish I could control the weather. No I get fireworks."

Before Jubilee could continue with her complaints, a roll of thunder and the sudden release of lightning from the sky silenced her. A forked lightning bolt traveled from the heavens and into the warehouse through a skylight, frying the Toad and sending him through one of the brick walls and at Cyclops' feet. In another flawless attack, a whirlwind delivered Sabretooth through one of the walls and a silent attack ensued as Storm removed the air from his lungs, long enough to suffocate him into unconsciousness.

-=-=-

"I just don't understand what Magneto's motives have been these past few months," Scott complained to the Professor in his Study. "It's like, he gets us out there to fight, throws us aside, and then gets dumped somewhere by Storm... EVERYTIME!"

"Perhaps he's trying to get something from Ororo," the Professor said, folding his hands and looking at Scott with soul-piercing eyes.

"It ain't like you to be eavesdroppin', darlin," Logan said as he turned a corner and looked at Ororo. She had been standing outside of Xavier's Study listening to the conversation.

"Perhaps I have picked up a new habit," she said, trying to nonchalantly and inconspicuously dismiss Logan.

"Just like you picked up Magneto's scent," Logan growled. "I can smell the guy all over you, Ro. What's goin' on?"

"It is quite common for battling opponents to be found with each other's scent," Ororo said, crossing her arms as she began to walk away from Xavier's study. "You have smelled like Sabretooth plenty of times when you have come home from a long night out. Should I suspect something?" she asked, smiling at Logan.

Logan growled, "You wunna taste some adamantium, don't you?"

"There are easier ways to say you are worried about me, Logan," Ororo smiled as she began to walk up the main staircase. "But I like the way you express yourself. Thank you for your concern, my friend."

"Yeah, whatever lady," Logan said to himself, knowing she said the truth, but still denying it. "I need a smoke."

-=-=-

_My thoughts,_

_I have come to transcribe yet another private moment I have shared with Erik. It seems as if the two of us are growing more and more comfortable with each other. Unlike most things, this feeling of contentions makes me quite anxious. I am not worried about any scrutiny we may face when our secret is revealed (because secrets were made to be told), but I am concerned that I actually have feelings for Erik._

_He said something very astute today, making an algebraic equation that included us being one with the Earth. One times one will always be one. So what is the variable? Perhaps our feelings for each other. Is it possible that the variable will change in the future and the answer will no longer be one? If that happens, then is the sacrifice of wanting to be with him worth all of this?_

_The X-Men have been on countless missions to fight him. He has coerced the Brotherhood into joining him in his battles just so he can get closed to me. I am inclined to look at the frequency of his actions lately. When this first started his attacks were weeks apart; now they seem to be coming at the spur of each moment. I can tell Erik desires to see me for much longer than we do and on a much more formal occasion, and I believe I have the same burning desire as he_

Ororo looked up from her journal with a frown on her face as Bobby entered her room, the attic. "Hey ThunderStorm, what's kickin?" he asked, jumping on her bed. "What's boppin?" She turned to look at him, standing from her chair as her eyes turned completely white. "Hey, Storm, Ororo, baby, don't get mad!" he said with fear as he jumped out of her bed and held his hands out as a peace offering.

Ororo turned back to the desk and wrote a few more words, deciding not to finish her sentence: _I shall be back to write more later._ With that she slammed close her composition book, gave another angry look to Bobby and flew out of one of her huge, open windows to place the journal back in its hidden place among her plants.

-=-=-=-

**Author's Notes: **Yeah, this is another Storm-centric story. I got this idea from the Storm group on Yahoo! – a story where Magneto and Storm are the couple in mind. I also got the "what if Storm was a villain?' idea from the group and decided to combine two in one. So as the story progresses, both storylines and ideas will be fully incorporated. Hopefully it will be a fun story.


	2. A Date Gone Bad

**Title: **The Master and the Mistress

**Author: **Viral

-=-=-=-

"I heard of fashionably late, but 'Ro dinner's over," Logan said, with an unlit cigar in his mouth as he sat at the Dining Hall table. The rest of the older mutants were also present, carrying on conversations.

"I was busy, Logan," Ororo said before she sat down at the table. "In addition to that, I do not have much of an appetite, but I found it rude to not sit with you all at the table, so I have come."

"Wouldn't matter either way," Logan said before sniffing the air. "And it's about time you got Magneto's stench off of ya." Logan's ears perked up as he heard a phone ring, all the way from the mansion's Parlor. "Phone," he said bluntly for everyone in the room to hear, as if he knew it wasn't for him and didn't care if it was answered or not.

"I shall answer it," Ororo chimed in and stood up from the table. She exited the room, everyone taking an extra second to look at her. Normally Ororo wouldn't answer the phone. Her known family members were all dead and her village in Africa was not to keen on electric inventions. Either that or she was worried about frying the phone because all the extra buttons such as 'flash' and 'speed dial' confused her.

Ororo reached the Parlor with time to spare. She picked up the phone and spoke clearly, "Hello, you have reached the Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters."

"Quite an astute speech," came a heavy, baritone voice over the phone. "How are you?"

"Hello Erik," she said, twiddling her fingers in the phone wire. "I am actually uncomfortable right now."

"Uncomfortable?" he asked, confused.

"Yes," she answered. "Normally I am content among family and friends, but I feel as if I do not wish to be around them right now. As if I would rather be... somewhere else. I have a loss of appetite and my mood is imbalanced."

"Those aren't signs of discontent," Erik said, smiling on his side of the phone. "Those are signs telling me that you want me."

"I _want_ you?" Ororo laughed. "That is not an incontrovertible fact and it seems as if you are wishing that I want you."

"Maybe it is a wish," he replied, a serious tone in his voice. "So will you make my wish come true?"

"I do not have anything planned for the night," she said, running through her mental scheduling plan. "I guess we could actually _go out_."

"Wait," Erik said, sounding masculine and in control. "We're acting like a bunch of teenagers; like the little students who run into your classroom complaining about why they couldn't do their homework. Let's be real. Ororo, would you like to go on a date?"

Ororo, pleased by Erik's assertiveness, replied, "I would love to."

-=-=-

"Oh mah God!" Rogue screamed, green eyes widening as she turned up the volume on the TV in the security room. She had the duty of monitoring the grounds and cameras for the night, but had been more in tuned to what was going on in the local news. She nearly fell out of her chair as she reached to press the intercom button that would blare a notice to Xavier's Study and Bedroom, "Professor, there's a problem, sugah. Check the news out."

At that moment Xavier's wheelchair rolled into the War Room where Rogue was at, with several of the X-Men behind him. "Yes, Rogue, I am well aware of the situation," he said as he stopped at his position at the table and the large screen television turned on, displaying the broadcast.

"Two bombs and a propane tank are responsible for the ghastly explosion here tonight, but the Friends of Humanity are claiming responsibility for a preconscious decision to blow up this Mutant Safe House," a news reporter said as she stood outside of the police barriers with a huge, burning building in the background. "Trish Tilby, Channel 9, New York."

_"That was a report from New York City Manhattan where the Friends of Humanity have been attacking mutant institutions densely for the past few days. Authorities are still investigating the issues but have little power to persecute the Friends of Humanity for anything but arsenal and vandalism. Apparently, because mutants are not considered humans, a decision which will be decided within the Supreme Court later this week, the Friends of Humanity can not be legally be charged with murder," the news anchor said. "More on this Breaking Story in just a few minutes."_

Professor Xavier put his hands to his temples and suddenly opened his eyes, "Ororo is not in the mansion –- Iceman, you and Cyclops will fly to the Mutant Safe House and calm the flames as much as you can. If you can calm them enough, the firemen may be able to enter and rescue anyone still alive."

"Got it," Cyclops said as he stood up and ran out of the War Room, followed by Iceman, as they made their way to the Hangar.

"Logan is missing as well," Xavier said as he probed the mansion for all its residents. "He must have gone out with or after Ororo." Xavier put his hand under his chin as he looked at the others in the room. "The rest of you are free to go. Hopefully there will be need, but just in case, be ready for the remainder of the night for anything else to pop up."

-=-=-

"It is quite interesting for you to say something like that," Ororo smiled as she took a sip of Raspberry Iced Tea. "I too lost my parents at a young age, although mine died before my very eyes."

Erik looked up to Ororo with sad eyes, a look that could never be seen before. He was a masculine, powerful, dignified man –- yet now, with a beautiful woman and a delicious dinner in front of him, it would never be guessed that he was the mutant terrorist known as Magneto.

Ororo noticed his silence and tried to pursue the conversation, "At least now you have Pietro and Wanda to live for – and of course, your dream."

"I have made a lot of mistakes in my life," Erik began, sitting straight in his chair as he stretched out his muscular build. "But my children are not in that list. I have not always been loyal or honest to them, and they have many times plotted against me –- but they are truly wonderful."

"So, former Magneto villain turns into soft, sappy father Erik," Ororo smiled, her blue eyes focusing on his face before she jumped with fear. Into the restaurant paraded six Friends Of Humanity members with their guns in the air.

"We got those muties good!" they yelled and cheered and received an enthusiastic clap from the restaurant patrons who were more concerned with the guns than speaking their minds.

Erik's soft facial features suddenly transformed into anger and rage as he turned around to face the FOH members. The guns were ripped out of their hands as Erik moved his eye from weapon to weapon. Soon the metal was stretching and bending until each member was individually tied and wrapped in a strong ring of metal that was continually being tightened around them. "Erik," Ororo harshly whispered, "Stop! You will kill them."

"They deserve to die!" he frowned and scoffed angrily. Yes, he was indeed a brand new person when people were persecuted, and she could understand why. He had experienced racial injustice at the hands of Hitler. Surely, that experience must have been even more horrendous than the killing fields of Pol Pot in Cambodia –- but even if that was true, he couldn't kill people for revenge.

Her eyes turned white as she began to slightly disrupt the magnetic spectrum, something she hadn't tried to often, but was able to do. Erik's psionic abilities became dysfunctional and confused long enough for the metal to stop tightening the FOH members. At this very moment Wolverine charged into the restaurant, claws sheathed and an angry scowl on his face. "Magneto!"

Erik stood up angrily as his eyes squinted and he softly whispered, in a dissenting tone, "Put those things away." Wolverine's claws were immediately shoved back into his fists as Erik magnetically forced his body out of the store and into someone's car.

"Erik!" Ororo shouted as she stood up, anger in her eyes as she crossed her arms. "I thought we were on a date."

"Pressing matters and unexpected circumstances have arrived Ororo," he said as he turned to face her. This was the man she had grown to dread, the man filled with anger. Someone she hoped she would be able to turn his anger around. "And I have a job to do."

"There is no need to take unnecessary actions," she said, forgetting that the restaurant was still full of fearful patrons. "Professor Xavier and the X-Men will handle this peacefully."

"This has been happening for weeks now, Ororo!" he yelled, causing her to gasp. "I will not tolerate it anymore. My patience has worn thin and I'm sick of waiting for Xavier. His dream for peace is a wimp's fairytale. I'm through!"

"I... I am speechless," Ororo said, her eyes said as she titled her head to the side and then turned away from Erik.

He turned, facing her back as his tone of voice went back down to normal speaking level and genuine concern, "You will have to trust my judgment."

-=-=-

"What were you doing with Magneto?" Scott yelled in the War Room, hitting his fists on the round, metal table. "You have responsibilities, Ororo! What were you thinking?"

Ororo sat, her eyes focused on Scott's angry face. She wanted to say something so much, but thought not to embarrass Scott with so many people present.

"We needed you and you weren't there!" Scott continued yelling. "You abrogated your responsibility as a team leader and an efficient follower. Now, I want to know, why were you with Magneto?"

"I told you already, one-eye," Logan growled, "The woman was on a date with our arch-enemy."

"I am not concerned with where Ororo was," Professor Xavier said in a calm voice, slightly depleting the tension in the room. "I trust her to act as a responsible woman. She made one mistake."

"But she was with Magento!" Scott yelled. "As if... she was seeing him for weeks maybe months already! How long has this been going on?"

"Scott," Ororo began, standing up. She spoke in a calm tone. Her white hair back in a ponytail with two thick stands falling on each side of her face. She placed her hands on her hips as she always did when she was entirely annoyed. "My personal life is absolutely none of your business. Whether or not I abrogated my responsibilities, as an X-Man, is also something you cannot accuse me of. How can you judge me on something you have failed at doing plenty of times before? How many times in the past have I been forced into leadership because you were too busy whining, crying, tearing over Jean? How many times has this team nearly been killed because you wanted to protect her so much that you forgot about your responsibilities?" By now Ororo's tone was growing into one where it was clear she was reprimanding Scott. "It is hardly possible for someone like you to raise a standard to which you yourself cannot reach!"

"This has nothing to do with Jean!" Scott yelled, a red light flaring behind his ruby quartz shades. There was a playful smirk on Bobby's face as he wished this would turn into a big fight between Scott and Ororo.

"True, this has nothing to do with Jean!" Ororo yelled in response. "It has everything to do with your failure on your most recent mission and the fact that you need someone to blame it on, other than yourself. Scott it is a childish endeavor and I will not feed into it!"

"You know wh--," Scott began but was cut off by Ororo's hand in the air.

"Speak no more!" she commanded. "I shall be in my room for the remainder of the night. Professor, I shall speak with you tomorrow?" He nodded as he let Ororo leave the room and shook his head at the entire argument.

-=-=-

"But Professor, she was with Magneto!" Scott said as he paced around Xavier's Study.

"I knew she was with him," Xavier said calmly, followed by an exhausted yawn. "I knew when they began to share feelings for each other."

"And you didn't tell us?" Scott frowned.

"As she mentioned, her personal life has nothing to do with you or anyone else in this mansion," Xavier explained with his hands folded. "You need to realize that not everyone is perfect Scott, and Ororo, although she may seem like a divine entity, is probably more human than many of us."

-=-=-

Ororo angrily scribbled words into her journal as she layed in the grass, outside of the dark Institute:

_My thoughts,_

_This has been quite an eventful day. Erik, or should I say Magneto, nearly killed six Friends of Humanity members and would have dismembered Logan if I wasn't there. It seems as if he is not the type of man I was looking for after all. Or is he?_

_Scott and I quarreled today. He thinks he is exempt from all the standards he places on the other X-Men, but I believe I have made it clear that he is not. I will not suffer myself to go through another one of his yelling tantrums. And if he thinks a little glow behind his glasses will frighten me, he has another thing coming, including a lightning bolt in places that have never seen light._

_I suppose I am becoming quite -– ornery lately. My attitude has become much easier to strike. Perhaps it is because of my time around Erik. Hmm... I pray Charles takes some type of action against the Friends of Humanity, otherwise I see a legitimate reason for Erik to follow his own plans. It is sad to know that I think Charles' dream is not worth the fight anymore... but I will continue, won't I?_

Ororo closed her journal and hid it within her plants before she laid in the garden swing and fell asleep under the starry night.


	3. Figuring Things Out

**Title: **The Master and the Mistress

**Author: **Viral

-=-=-=-

_Ororo rested in her attic suite, her white hair sloppily covering her pillow and feeling like sheer, silk sheets across her golden brown cheek. She squirmed around in the bed, hearing noises from outside but not wanting to wake up because of fatigue. Little did she know: this laziness would be her downfall. Outside of the mansion a group of FOH members lit their torches, readied their guns, and prepared their grenades to completely destroy the Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. After a silent command from their leader, the FOH members released a loud yell and through their weapons into the mansion windows, the brick exterior, and the large main entrance door. Ororo jumped out of her bed, noticing that flames were quickly creeping into her room. Smoke filled the attic and caused her to choke several times before noticing that the ceiling was caving in on her. "Ororo!" Hank yelled, entering the room with the dead bodies of Rogue and Xavier in his arms. His blue eyes looked up to the ceiling with fear, causing Ororo to look up only to find herself bombarded by flaming wood, brick, and glass._

Ororo gasped loudly, holding her chest, as she fell off of the swing in the garden. "Bright Lady," she whispered, her heart pounding as she realized it was just a nightmare. She looked around. The mansion was in perfect condition, the grass wet with the morning dew, and the sun peeking through over the horizon. It was early morning, Ororo's favorite part of the day. Perhaps the peace and quiet that it brought would help her and relieve her from the breathtaking nightmare she just had.

-=-=-

"Piotr, I just do not seem to have faith in Charles' ideals anymore," Ororo said softly over the phone. She was speaking to her old friend, Piotr Rasputin, better known as Colossus. He, at one time, had left the X-Men and joined Magneto. Perhaps he would be able to help her make a decision.

"Ororo, I do not wish to decide for you," he said in a strong Russian accent. "But I think it is important for you to make your decision carefully. The nightmare you had shows your insecurity in Xavier's dream. Maybe it's time you left."

"If I do leave, I will be an enemy of the X-Men," she sighed. "I just cannot leave everything behind. I have to choose a side to fight on because I am apart of the war. I suppose leaving the X-Men leaves me with only one alternative."

"Give the Professor some time," Piotr said. It was odd for him to be giving the advice to Ororo, he was always looking for her advice. "Talk to him and then see how you feel."

"I shall try," Ororo said with a slight smile on her face. "Tell Kitty I said hello and I pray she is enjoying her time away from the team."

"Will do, Ororo," Piotr said. "I will talk with you later."

Ororo hung up the phone, walking back to the vanity in her attic, barefoot. She was wearing a blue jean jumpsuit and a plain white T-shirt under it. On her feet was a pair of construction-colored work boots. Her white hair was placed in a ponytail with a deliberate loose collection of hair hanging on the right side of her face.

She walked out onto the attic's balcony and gracefully hovered down into the mansion's garden. "This will be quite an adventuresome day," she said as she walked among the tulips and daisies and began watering them with a collection of small rain clouds. She began humming a jazzy tune as she slowly walked among the flowers, picking up stray petals and tending to the landscape.

"Storm... Ororo," Scott said as he approached her. Ororo nearly jumped out of her boots. This was the first time anyone had interrupted her while she was doing her gardening. Normally no one else was up this early in the morning, except for the Professor who would be taking care of business.

"Good morning, Scott," she replied, although the tone of her voice admitted it was only a formality and not something she really wanted to say.

"No pressure, but I'm just curious," he said, standing in his spot. "Are you attracted to Magneto?"

"Yes, I am," Ororo admitted, resting her blue eyes on a rose that seemed to be withering away. She bent down and studied it.

"Why?" he asked. "The guy is like... Xavier's age. He might look young and feel young, but the guy is old!" Scott said, almost laughing at Ororo's answer.

"Scott, I am a woman who is very capable of making wise decisions," she said, standing up. She had hoped they wouldn't have to argue again. "Now, I have a question for you."

"Shoot," he said, still chuckling.

"Do you feel intimidated by me? No pressure, but I am just curious," she said sarcastically, turning away from him. "Is your masculinity challenged when you have to follow the orders of a woman on the battlefield?" Scott swore under his breath, causing Ororo to turn back and look at him. "What did you say?"

"You heard me," he said, poking out his chest and frowning. This was all met with a gruesome kick from Ororo's long leg as her work boots collided into Scott's jawbone, knocking him to the ground. When he looked back up at Ororo through his ruby quartz shades, dirt could be seen on his cheek and blood running down his bottom lip.

He yelled, allowing his adrenaline to take over his mind, as he removed his shades and shot a deadly blow of optic blast energy into Ororo's torso, burning through her the stomach part of her jumpsuit and t-shirt and showing her abs. Ororo grunted as she picked herself up from the brick walkway of the garden. Her entire body became covered in lightning and the wind picked up dramatically around her immediate body, causing her ponytail to wave in the air like a cloud behind her head. Her hands went forward and a lightning bolt immediately shot out of the sky, directly pinpointed to hit Scott in his back. The mutant fell forward from the heat, electrical jolt, and the force of the bolt as he shook in spasms on the ground with a second-degree burn in his back. Ororo readied herself as another lightning bolt was cooked up at her fingertips.

_"Ororo, no!" _came the Professor's voice telepathically. _"I'm sending Hank out to retrieve Scott, but I want you in my office, RIGHT NOW!"_

-=-=-

"Yes, Professor?" Ororo said calmly as she entered the office. She had changed into an extra outfit of the same kind and color and walked into his office nonchalantly.

"I called you ten minutes ago, Ororo," Xavier frowned. "Your behavior outside with Scott and your lack of haste in answering my calls is showing quite an unreliable change in your character."

"Surely you did not expect me to take the abuse Scott was throwing at me!" Ororo said, her voice rising to a soprano pitch as she walked closer to the Professor's desk. "That is quite unreasonable!"

"This is not about Scott," Xavier frowned. "It's about your inability to see what your new personality is doing the team. The way you are acting is affecting everyone you interact with. You are making decisions reliant on the way you feel at the moment and you are failing to see the consequences of her actions before hand!"

"I did not come here to have a moral examination, Charles," Ororo frowned. "I know very well that I am changing. Right now, I do not know if it is for better or for worse, but there is no stopping it."

"Why?" Xavier asked, squinting his eyes. "Why are you changing?"

"Professor, what are you going to do about the Friends of Humanity's attacks on the pro-mutant institutions?" Ororo asked.

"There is nothing we can do," the Professor frowned. "We can only continue to portray, through our actions, that mutants deserve equal rights. We can not attack the Friends of Humanity, but we can protect our kind."

"That is not enough!" Ororo yelled. "Your passive actions are not helping to move things along. You are not trying hard enough!" The Professor found himself speechless at Ororo's outburst. "Your unwillingness to be aggressive in your fight is causing your dream to slip out of your hands..." she said. Her voice was now almost as low as the volume of a whisper, "And it is causing me to lose faith in your dream."

"What are you saying?" Xavier asked, rolling his wheelchair from behind his desk with a sad look on his face.

"I do not know for sure," Ororo sighed. "I need more time to think." She turned and walked out of the door.

-=-=-=-


	4. The Moon's Reflection

**Title: **The Master and the Mistress

**Author: **Viral

-=-=-

"Sabretooth, Toad, Quicksilver, and Pyro will attack the Friend's of Humanity headquarters in New York," Magneto said as he elegantly showed his plans to the members of the Brotherhood sitting at the round metal table. On a vertical screen he was directing magnetic tablets around, showing them the plan visually as he explained everything to them. "Wanda and I will head to Washington D.C. ahead of time and make sure the President understands we mean business," Magneto said, glaring to Sabretooth who was sniffing the air tentatively.

"What is it?" Magneto frowned looking towards the open doorway as he questioned Sabretooth.

The air suddenly shifted in a different direction, although no one noticed, and Sabretooth lost the scent, "Nothing."

"If the President will not meet our demands to shut down the Friends of Humanity, we'll take matters into our own hands and get rid of him," Magneto said, putting his palms down on the table. "Permanently."

"Just what we need, oh Master of Magnetism: another Civil War," Storm said sarcastically as she entered the room. Immediately the entire Brotherhood went on the defensive, standing from their seats and ready to charge on order. "No need to be alarmed," Storm said as she casually walked into the room, her eyes slowing looking at each member of the Brotherhood.

"Stand down," Magneto ordered the Brotherhood, and each member cautiously took a seat.

"Magnus," Storm said, taking a seat at the table as if she felt extremely welcomed and comfortable there. "I find it highly unlikely that your plan will succeed. Charles will send the best he has to offer to stop you in D.C. and will send the remnant to fight your accomplices in New York."

"So what do you suggest?" Magneto asked, squinting his eyes.

"I will go with you," Storm said with a nonchalant look on her face but a very convincing tone in her voice. "I know the strategies Xavier will use and how to stop them. The only thing I ask is that if push comes to shove, you must not take the life of the president."

"I have to what must be done, Ororo!" Magneto shouted, banging his fist on the table.

"Yeah, mate, don't come in trying ta change the Brotherhood around," Pyro said in his Australian accent, chuckling as he looked to Ororo.

"I agree, father," Wanda said as she spoke up, running her fingers through her hair. "What will we accomplish by killing him except a bunch of angry humans on our backs. We can threaten his family, his friends, his country without getting such a violent reaction from the rest of the nation."

"You're suggesting blackmail?" Magneto asked, crossing his arms.

"That is one way to put it," Ororo said, studying her fingernails and tossing small lightning bolts from one finger to the next in a bored motion.

"It'll be nice to add another woman to the team," Wanda smiled. "Eventually our brains will overwhelm the men's stupidity."

"Every man experiments with woman's underwear at least once!" Toad said, protecting himself.

"Speak for yerself, Morty," Pyro said. Quicksilver, Toad, Pyro, and Sabretooth ensued in the argument as Magneto let out a frustrated sigh.

This all brought a smile to Ororo's lips as Wanda shook her head, "See. My point exactly."

-=-=-

Erik and Ororo stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean waves as they crashed against the rocky shore. Erik stood behind Ororo, his arms wrapped around her as the scent of her conditioned hair permeated his nostrils every time the wind blew pass his face. Ororo found herself in complete comfort as she closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder. He rubbed his shaved face against her white hair, finding comfort in the textured thickness.

"Never in my dreams would I have imagined I would be here with you," Ororo said in the silence. "It is odd how fate always seems to twist things and to ignore logic."

"Is it _really _that odd?" Magneto asked as he kissed her cheek, his dry lips leaving a ticklish feeling on Ororo's face.

"I suppose not," Ororo said as she opened her eyes and turned to face him. "I always thought I was on the right side, but I have been working with Charles for years and nothing has changed--," she explained but was cut off.

"Let's not worry about Charles right now," Erik said, drawing closer to Ororo. "Let's think about _us_." In a spur of romanticism Erik closed his eyes and pulled Ororo's body closer to him as he tilted his head downward. She instinctively closed her eyes and stood on her toes, tilting her head up and slightly to the side. The wind picked up as the sun completely set under the ocean's horizon. Ororo stopped breathing all together as her lips met with Erik's and they passionately played with each other's mouths. For that moment there was nothing on Ororo's mind except for Erik. He gently squeezed her back as he wrapped his muscular arms entirely around her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her hair swinging in every direction the wind pulled it. A sudden glare of light from the moon's reflection on the water caused the two to open their eyes as they slowly parted.

"Ororo, I don't know how to say this," he sighed, looking away from her and onto the dark water. Before he continued he turned back to make eye contact with her. His blue-gray eyes became lost in the sky-colored iris' that watched him. He studied the flawlessness of her golden brown skin and the exotic color of her silvery-white hair that swung with the wind and gave off a tint of blue radiance from the moon's light. "Ororo... I think I'm falling in love with you."

Ororo's jaw dropped and her eyebrows went upward in complete surprise. For a moment she stood speechless and breathless, but regained her composure. "Erik... you said _love._" He nodded as he noted the joy in her eyes despite her surprised countenance. "Falling in love with you," Ororo whispered, breathless, as the two found themselves in another long kiss under the stars.

-=-=-

Ororo pulled out her journal as she sat in a window seat in the mansion's library. She was back at the Xavier's School for the Gifted. The Brotherhood had agreed that it would best if she went back to the mansion for the night, as to not arouse suspicion for the activities that would be taking place the next day. Curled up like a cat, she continued to neatly write with a black ink ballpoint pen.

_Who would have ever expected such a phrase could be uttered from the mouth of the 'Wanted: Mutant Terrorist, Magneto'? Certainly, not I. I was aghast when he said those words. 'I think I am falling love with you,' – I will never forget that phrase, or the look in his compelling eyes when he said it. Imagine... love. It has been so long since I have felt such an emotion that I do not know what to do with myself. Am I in love?_

_Tomorrow will be an interesting day. When I returned home from my visit at Magneto's, I was met with a smile coming from Wolverine. A smile on the face of Logan: that is quite a frightening event. I later discovered his gruesome smile was there because he had found out about my contention with Scott and the not-so good outcome for the 'leader of the X-Men'. In the words of Jean, "I think Scott deserved it; he is a real male chauvinist at times." Still, I had not expected such a nice reaction from Jean._

_I believe I will finish off my night by viewing an episode of the Weakest Link and enjoying the last few pages of a murder mystery written by Mary Higgins Clark. I believe I know who the killer is, but with her books there is no figuring these things out. Goodnight._

Ororo closed her journal and put it under her body as she opened to her book marked page of the murder mystery. After glancing around the slightly noisy library, filled with students who had a science report for Beast's Anatomy class in two days, she indulged herself with the pages of the book and the suspense that it brought.

-=-=-=-


	5. Plan of Action

Title: The Master and the Mistress 

**Author: **Viral****

-=-=-=-

Morning came after a rough night of sleep for Ororo Munroe. Her mind was troubled and her stomach anxious for what the day was going to offer. She could only imagine the face-off between the X-Men and the Brotherhood to be extremely awkward if not a deadly turn of events. She had chosen to join the 'evil' side, but at that very moment she felt like she was doing the right thing. Of course being a traitor wasn't, in itself, a noble thing to do – but to take a stance after years of loyalty to one side because of an epiphany of philosophy was.

She had left early by flight to join Magneto at the metal-made base of operations in northern Delaware. She flew for two reasons: to hide her departure trail from Wolverine's keen nose and because it was quicker than any type of driving. She flew on the speed of the wind with agility and balance, easily beating some airplanes in the sky. But through her flight she had plenty to think about. Could she now be called _Storm_? After all, she had gained that name as a member of the X-Men, but she was about leave the team. What would she wear? If she wore anything that signified she was loyal to Xavier wouldn't that make her a hypocrite?

She landed outside of the Brotherhood's Base of Operations in a pair of slacks, a T-shirt, and her hair in an extremely long ponytail. The only accessories she brought with her were her lightning bolt earrings, gold bracelets, and a tiara that she proudly wore on her head, helping to keep her hair from flying in her face. As soon as she touched the ground she was met with the faces of ecstatic Brotherhood members.

They were ready for revenge against the Friends of Humanity. They waited in excitement for the mission to begin; for their mutant brothers and sisters to be avenged in one of the smallest, yet most well planned attacks ever released by Magneto. Ororo imagined some of them might have had their own personal agendas, especially Sabretooth who was probably imagining ripping Wolverine apart at that very moment. "Good morning," Ororo said as she addressed them all. They nodded and greeted her in return, all with smiling faces and cheerfulness. This was unexpected.

Magneto was all business when he stepped out of the shadows and into the bright sun. He placed a metal-clothed helmet on his head, hiding his white head and enshrouding his face in darkness as he spoke with his baritone voice, "Team II, you know your orders. Depart." Sabretooth, Toad, Quicksilver, and Pyro boarded a stolen helicopter and loudly prepared it for flight.

"Storm, can you make the flight without assistance?" Magneto asked as he and Wanda became covered in a translucent field of magnetism.

"Yes," she said in a near-mumble wondering if she was going to end up going onto the battlefield dressed as a commoner.

"Good," Magneto said. "We, the Brotherhood, have a gift for you inside. Meet Wanda and I in D.C." With those few words he was gone and so were the other Brotherhood members in their loud chopper.

-=-=-

A lively knock rattled Ororo's bedroom door. When no answer came after several attempts and a few whispers of Ororo's name, Jean opened the door and walked inside accompanied by Jubilee. "Ororo?" Jean asked as she softly walked across the attic floor, blocking the sun's rays coming through the glass roof with her hands.

"Where could she be?" Jubilee asked, peering around the room and onto the balcony, still with no sign of the Windrider. "She knows this is our shopping day!"

Jean lifted her hands to her temples as she did a mental scan of the mansion and its immediate property. "She's not here," Jean said, opening her eyes after she finished the search. "Where could she be?"

"Do you think we should go without her?" Jubilee asked, popping a piece of bubblegum in her mouth and chewing it with skill like any mallrat could.

"I guess we could," Jean said. "Then again, I do need to check on Scott." Jean stopped to think. It just wasn't like Ororo to ignore appointments and set traditions. She ran her fingers through her red hair, going through every odd possibility. No one had any classes this morning except Beast and the Danger Room sessions didn't begin until the afternoon. She also noticed that she hadn't seen Ororo at breakfast. "This is strange," Jean said, thinking out loud.

"Strange indeed," came the telepathic voice of Professor Xavier into the attic. "I need you two to come down to my Study," he insisted, speaking to both Jean and Jubilee. Jubilee quickly made her way out of the hot attic and Jean cautiously followed, slowly closing Ororo's door.

-=-=-

"Logan," Xavier said in a condemning sing-song voice as he watched Logan pull out a cigar and stick it in his mouth.

"Ya know I ain't gon' light it inside, Chuck," Logan said with a silly grin on his face as he leaned against one of the Xavier's bookcases. He didn't turn when Jubilee entered the room, followed by Jean. He had smelled them ten seconds ago and knew they were on their way. Jubilee, of course, stood next to him and Jean made her way towards Cyclops, who was still recovering but able to move around. _"Ro really gave it to you this time, Scooter," _Logan thought and was met with a half-grin, half-frown from Jean. Logan chuckled slightly before Xavier regathered everyone's attention.

"It looks like Magneto is making another move," Xavier said and was met with a bunch of unprofessional grumbles and mumbles. His stern look quieted the team as he folded his hands upon his desk and continued. "Sabretooth, Toad, Pyro, and Quicksilver are apparently on a vandalism mission at the Friend's of Humanity Headquarters in New York," he explained. "However, I feel they are only a decoy because Magneto and the Scarlet Witch are not with them. There is something else up his sleeve that I haven't figured out yet, but I know he is headed for Washington D.C."

"Where's Storm?" Rogue asked, figuring both she and Scott would be picked as team leaders, as usual.

"I'm not sure," Xavier frowned. "I think I sensed her, but then I lost it."

"Then who's going to lead?" Rogue inquired again, her southern accent softly rolling off of her tongue as she spoke.

"The team I am sending to New York will be lead by Gambit," Xavier said. All the X-Men gave him an uneasy look, but he quickly explained that Gambit's thief and stealth tactics might be useful in bombarding the Brotherhood. "In New York will be Gambit, Jubilee, Wolverine, and Iceman," he said, not reading off a list, but looking as if all of this was completely memorized and set in stone in his mind. "Colossus and Kitty will join you as soon as they return from their vacation."

"Isn't this a great way to come back home," Iceman joked.

"Scott, Jean, and Rogue will accompany me in Washington," he noted just as quickly as he had explained everything else. "Any questions?"

"When is departure time?" Scott asked sternly from his seat where Jean was gently massaging his shoulders.

"The D.C. team will be boarding the jet in ten minutes," Xavier noted. "Gambit, you will decide for your team."

-=-=-

Xavier and Cyclops walked down the corridor leading to the hangar, followed by Jean who was putting her hair into a tight bun. "Professor, if Magneto is probably after something more serious in Washington, shouldn't we focus more of our teammates on him than in New York?" Scott asked.

"Scott, there is more to this mission than you think," Xavier explained. "And right now I can only bring my _best_ with me." Cyclops thought things through for a moment. Wolverine would be no match for Magneto or Wanda. Jubilee was still in training. Shadowcat might be of some assistance but she would never make it in time. Colossus, when enhanced by his mutation, would be encased in organic metal and would be a like a toy for Magneto to play with. Iceman and Gambit were regular comedians and although able to handle the mission, they would probably choose to make a joke of everything. Perhaps Xavier _had_ thought things through.

"What in blue tarnation is this?" Rogue said as she violently pressed the button to open the hangar door. Xavier hovered in his wheelchair behind her, followed by Cyclops and Jean who were ready and suited up.  After a few more hesitant pushes of the button, Rogue lashed out and punched through the door with her super strength, causing something on the other side to shatter. The door opened only a few centimeters, allowing very cold air to come from the hangar and into the small corridor.

"We don't have time for this!" Scott said. "Everyone, back up." They all moved away from the door as Cyclops decreased the resistance on his visor and let out powerful optic blast, which knocked down the doors and revealed a winter wonderland made out of the hangar. The jets were frozen to the floor. Snow decorated the floors and walls while icicles hung sternly from the ceiling.

"Great, just great!" Cyclops frowned. "Bobby never stops playing!"

"I don't believe this was Bobby's doing, Scott," Xavier said. "But we don't have time to make accusations. Hopefully my private jet hasn't been vandalized."

-=-=-

I couldn't help but to grin when I found the 'gift' the Brotherhood had left me. It was quite a leisurely ensemble; one that wasn't as revealing as I thought it was going to be. She was dressed a pair of tight pants that resembled the color and texture of jeans, a white shirt that extended to her elbows, and a pair of leather-type white gloves with the fingers cut off of them. It was a plain outfit. "Nothing goofy," Ororo thought out loud as she flew over the Washington Monument. "Unlike a certain man's cape and helmet." She soon spotted Magneto and Wanda who were inconspicuously county people, watching law enforcement, and scouting the White House from atop a hill hidden in trees not too far away.

"Looking good, Storm," Wanda said, noticing Ororo as she landed when a wave of cool air brushed against her neck and back. Magneto didn't turn around to look. If he looked at her now he would be fully taken off course of his work, and there was no way he was going to let this plan be foiled – not even by the incomparable beauty of the Windrider.

"Thank you," she said to Wanda, smiling as the two joined Magneto in the scouting.

"Charles won't want an open confrontation with all these people present," Magneto said, thinking out loud. "If we begin our assault in the open he will try to mentally attack us. But, if these two fight his pupils in this hidden area he will come after me and then the battle can move out into the open. He'll be too preoccupied."

Magneto turned to face Wanda and Ororo and lifted two metal tiaras from a bag on the ground. "This will protect your minds and my plan from Xavier's probes," he said. "Storm, you will feel a slight electrical pulse when he attempts to pry your mind for information. That means he and the X-Men are close. I want them out of the sky before they get too close!"

"Understood," Ororo said, placing the tiara on her had as Magneto floated away with his cape flowing behind him. Unawares, the tourists below continued taking pictures of the White House from their distance at the black-iron fence that surrounded all of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "Have you ever tried convincing your father to choose a new outfit?" Ororo asked Wanda as they watched him fearfully float high over White House property.

"Yes, I've tried," Wanda sighed. "It's just something about the red and purple that he loves." They both laughed uneasily before feeling the tingle Magneto mentioned.

_He can't be here already, _Ororo thought to herself. _Blast it all! I forgot about his private jet. No matter. The others will have to drive into New York City. Meanwhile, it's time to brew a storm. _Storm's eyes turned completely white as she lifted herself into the clouds, which, all over the Historic District of Washington, D.C., were becoming dark, heavy, and dangerously fierce. Lightning followed soon, sometimes lighting up the entire sky, other times flashing as forked lightning across the darkness of the clouds, and other times crashing as lightning bolts into the ground below. Thunder ensued only moments before the torrential rains began to fall and fog began to cover the ground.

Wanda smirked as the people below looked up in amazement, then fear, and then began running towards their cars, busses, cabs, and tour guides. "And I thought my powers were awesome," she smiled.

-=-=-

Rogue struggled to put on her seatbelt after being knocked around the plane several times. They hadn't expected any turbulence and they weren't supposed to be landing until ten minutes later. "What the heck is goin on up there?" Rogue asked the Professor and Cyclops as she finally clicked her seatbelt into place.

"Oh God!" Cyclops yelled as a lightning bolt jammed into the front window of the jet, causing him to shut his eyes tightly and the entire jet to rattle and shake off balance. It leaned to one side and then leaned to the other. When he finally opened his eyes the rain was so heavy that he took his hands off the controls and gave full access to the Professor.

"There is no visibility!" Xavier yelled in his oddball voice before another lightning bolt hit the side of the jet and completely sent the jet on a spiral towards the ground. Elevation dropped plentifully second after second. Every one of the mutants in the jet let out a few shrieks and a dozen yells which were muffled by the even louder "beep, beep, beep" of the emergency devices. Everything was offline. Nothing was functioning proper – and as far as they could see the ground could be as close as a foot or as far as one thousand miles. It didn't matter. Life as they knew it was about to cease to exist.

-=-=-=-


	6. Faceoff

Title: The Master and the Mistress 

**Author: Viral**

**Author's Note: **To all those romance lovers who are looking for Magneto/Storm action, don't be alarmed about how slow it's moving. I will eventually get back to it: I have a plan – and I imagine the events might please you. However, until I can fully implement it into the story, enjoy.

By the way, I send my thanks and appreciation to all of you who have reviewed this story and have given the pairing a chance. I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as it has been a pleasure for me to write.

-=-=-=-

"Knock knock," Pyro said in a singsong voice, standing in front of the New York City Friend's of Humanity Headquarters. Behind him stood Sabretooth, Toad, and Quicksilver, all clad in full black suits with only a few modifications on each. The most modified, of course, was Pyro's. On his back were portable gas tanks and pipes that allowed him to produce the fire that he would later manipulate. Creating and manipulating fire was the first plan of action for the Brotherhood. A single flame was all it would take for this professional arson to destroy the entire building.

"Do it!" Quicksilver impatiently commanded from behind as he watched Pyro get ready for the attack. He looked at the brick-faced building, wondering how long this entire process was going to take. He could easily handle everything by himself without ever being seen or touched. But his father, Magneto, had warned him to be patient. They had two reasons to be here: to take revenge against the F.O.H. and to scramble the X-Men's team. In order to call it a successful mission both goals had to be accomplished.

"Hold your horses, the fire's just startin to cook!" Pyro cackled as the flames erupted and he mentally told them where to attach to the building. The flames immediately began to spread across the exterior and through into the interior. He cackled louder when the warehouse roof caught to flames and the F.O.H. members began to abandon their place of business.

The members, unarmed and ambushed, were met with the four muscular and angry members of the Brotherhood. The F.O.H. outnumbered the Brotherhood considerably, numbering about thirty men in their twenties and thirties. "Mutants!" one of the men shouted and ran back inside of the burning building to retrieve his weapons. Much to his dismay the burning ceiling collapsed on his head and he was no longer to be seen.

"How are we going to do this?" Quicksilver smiled, patting his foot on the ground as he tauntingly looked into the eyes of the fearful men.

"We'll maim them," Sabretooth growled. "One at a time." One of them men returned the growl and angrily charged at Sabretooth's body. From a distance one would only see shadows but they would know who the victor would be way before the battle even started. Sabretooth, standing at approximately seven feet, if not more, and adorned with muscles that would scare even the toughest of body builders versus a man who stood at five feet and six inches and looked like he never lifted a weight in his life. It was no surprise when the Sabretooth's hand completely wrapped around the man's neck and snapped it with a single flinch of his hand.

"My God... he's a monster!" one of the men screamed, trying to run away. Toad quickly jumped into the air and kicked the man in the back with his super strong legs, causing the man to fly into the burning building.

"Now, let's handle our business," Quicksilver chuckled, ready to join in the fun.

"The only business you have is us," came a Cajun-accented voice from behind the four Brotherhood members, "And I don't think you can handle it, mes amis." Sabretooth turned around to see Wolverine with his claws extended, Toad faced Jubilee, Iceman faced Quicksilver, and Gambit looked as if he was ready to pounce on Pyro.

"Welcome lads," Pyro chuckled, "We've been expecting ye to join us." Pyro pointed his hands at Gambit and flames ruptured out of his gas contraption. The flames began to surround the Cajun in a circle. This became the cue for all of them to join in the battle.

"Hey Morty! Take that!" Jubilee yelled, releasing pyrokinetic sparks from her hands. Toad jumped leaps and bounds as he moved quickly out of the path of her attacks. His menacing tongue tied her ankles together and caused her to fall to the ground. She hit her head hard, but didn't lose consciousness. In the midst of this the Friends of Humanity made their escape, slowly creeping from the midst of the fighting mutants.

"This has got to be the most mundane battle here, runt," Sabretooth chuckled as Wolverine growled with his three adamantium claws extended and his fang-like teeth gritting against one another. "Of course you know I'll win." Sabretooth was a master of mind games. If need be he could get Wolverine so excited and lost in adrenaline that his opponent would begin to lose concentration of his fighting techniques. Wolverine's beserker rage might be something deadly to face, but it was useless against a smart opponent -- especially one as smart and cunning as Sabretooth.

"I've had it, Creed!" Wolverine growled, charging at Sabretooth with his claws ready to slice and dice the first thing they came in contact with. Sabretooth extended his bulky arms and fist out to Wolverine's exposed gut. He watched as Wolverine's would-be onslaught stopped and mutant quickly recovered from the punch. "Is that all you got Creed?"

Meanwhile, Iceman and Quicksilver were a considerable number of miles away from the original place of battle. They had been fighting and moving at the same time: Iceman surfing on ice and Quicksilver dodging attacks of ice shards. Neither could seem to reach or make contact with the other.

Then, in a moment of genius, a brilliant idea hit Iceman. He would need to time and position everything correctly though. Even if he did have the reputation of a no-good jokester and an annoying addition to any team, he was a king on the battlefield and a huge asset because of his abilities.

Iceman rode on his slopes of ice that he habitually created until he saw Quicksilver heading for a narrow alley. Just what he needed. A sheet of ice was quickly constructed on one end of the alley. Quicksilver, although fast, did not think nearly fast enough when he ran into the thick wall of ice. He turned, his eyes wide and quickly ran to escape the alley the same way he had come in, but by the time he got there another wall of ice had been constructed. Iceman stood above him on his coaster of ice, looking below with a grin on his face. "Nowhere to go?" he said, pointing his hands towards Quicksilver and froze his feet to the ground.

"I'm gonna get outta here freeze pop," Quicksilver taunted.

"Yeah yeah," Iceman laughed. "You're a villain and you're going to kill me once you get out of the trap and all of that good stuff. Yeah, I've heard the speech before."

-=-=-

Cyclops was sitting in the co-pilot seat, terrified as the plane plummeted towards the ground with no hopes of stopping. He knew too well that Jean wasn't strong enough to telekinetically stop the jet, much less hold it up in the air to make a safe landing or even an escape. He was strapped tight in his seatbelt praying for a way out with his eyes closed behind his ruby quartz visors. His ears perked at the dozens of sounds that were all adding to the atmosphere of fear: Rogue screaming at the top of her lungs, the Professor frantically working the controls, begging for some type of response, Jean whimpering and letting out shrill screams every once and a while, the continual beeping of the jet's malfunction alert system, and the sounds in the back of the jet as if something kept exploding behind them.

When he finally opened his eyes he was looking directly at the ground as the jet made a vertical plunge towards it. He yelled out of habit, his toes curled in fear, his sweaty palms held on tighter to the sides of his chair and he spoke with passion, "Jean, I love you!" The jet was only inches away from the ground when it suddenly stopped. All the passengers were shaken with fear, hearts beating and lungs exhaling and inhaling quicker than they ever had in their entire lives. Everything was silent except for a gentle drizzle that hit against the windows and the continual 'beeping' of the jet's systems.

The jet slowly was moved out of its vertical, descending position and into a horizontal land on the muddy ground.

"Jean?" Cyclops asked.

"It wasn't me..." she noted, shaken with fear as she looked out of the window. "It must have been Wanda," she said before beginning to remove her seat belt. Her red hair was in a horrible mess, tangled in the back and misshapen in the front. Rogue, too, was discombobulated. She was so overcome with fear that she was now sprawled out on the floor, gasping for normal breathing patterns.

Xavier, however, had already mentally recovered from the events. He had his eyes closed and his hands on his temples as he mentally scoped everything out. He couldn't get a good link on the Scarlet Witch, Storm, or Magneto's minds, but he knew that they were around. When he finally reopened his ice blue eyes he turned to face his small team of mutants. "I'm going after Magnus; the rest of you will have to deal with the Scarlet Witch... and Storm."

"Storm!?" Cyclops yelled in confusion.

"There's no time to explain," Professor Xavier reprimanded. "You have your orders, now go!" The Professor watched keenly as Rogue, Jean, and Cyclops cautiously exited the jet. He wanted to apologize for his actions, for the ferocity of his words, but now wasn't the time. He understood why he was acting out of character. Not only was he upset with Magneto for once again going to extreme measures and making things harder for his dream of human-mutant peace, but also Storm had joined his side and abandoned everything she and he had worked towards for the past seven years. He exited the jet on his yellow hovering wheelchair that made a mechanical whir with every motion. It was time for another Xavier-Magnus showdown.

-=-=-

Magneto flew through the halls of the White House, knocking down walls, stripping security guards of their iron until they were too weak to stand up, knocking out cameras, and sending magnetic fields around himself as means of protection. He knew exactly where the President was and things couldn't get better. He was in a business suite talking with the whole persons of Congress. What were they talking about? He didn't know and he certainly didn't care. The only thing he cared about was what they _would _be talking about when he arrived.

A gunshot sounded from behind Magneto but all he did was continue floating down the halls. The bullet simply turned around and went directly back into the barrel of the gun it was shot from. The gun imploded in the hands of the shooter and sent the man falling to the floor as the skin was burnt off of his hand. The screaming, yelling, and undoubted agony did not deter Magneto from his goal.

"What the--!" one of the Congressmen yelled as the door to the huge conference room was blown off its hinges and Magneto floated into the room. The master of magnetism immediately lifted his hands at the Secret Service agents and the armed security and stripped them of their clothes and weapons. He soon grouped them all into a magnetic field and busted a whole in the White House's exterior wall, tossing the men outside and onto the plush lawn below. He quickly turned his attention back to the Congressmen and the President who were now unprotected.

He landed on the ground, smiling at each of the men from under his helmet before removing it to reveal an angry man. A magnetic field expanded and enclosed the entire room from interruption from the outside. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have something to discuss," Magneto said looking at the men. The room was like an auditorium that would be used to seat delegates of the United Nations. It was that huge, that formal, and that big of a deal.

"You mutant terrorists just don't get enough do you?" one of the men yelled, pointing his finger at Magneto. He was met with a simple smile before he watched Magneto simply turn his attention to the others in the room. Not the reaction he was expecting.

"I am not here to argue," Magneto said, placing his helmet down on the nearest table. "I am here to make a proposition. I'm sure you've all heard of the massacring of mutants that has been taking place throughout the nation and its territories. The main culprit in these mass murders have been the Friends of Humanity; but none of them have been put on trial for murder or even manslaughter. Why? Because mutants are not considered mutants."

"Make your point mu--," one of the men began to say before Magneto held up his hand.

"Please don't interrupt, senator," Magneto said in his deep baritone voice. "Tomorrow there will be a Congressional hearing, presumably the last in a series of hearings to make a new law that will be ratified immediately afterwards. The House of Representatives has already approved of the bill, the last step is left to the Senate. You must pass and ratify the law that will make it a Constitutional truth that mutants are humans! It is already a biological fact, now the government must act."

"This is exactly why I'm choosing to vote against it!" a woman yelled. "Mutants like you are constantly attacking us, forcing your views on us, and making us do what you want us to do! Guess what, mutie, you're not above the law! Ya hear?"

"Look," Magneto said, losing his temper. "I am only doing this nicely because someone requested that I not kill you all!" The room silenced at his words. "If I were to force my views on you, you'd be in captivity and I would not be _kindly requesting _your approval! Do you want to know my views?" he grimaced. "My views are that because I can do this:," he lifted his hands and lifted the outspoken woman from her seat. He forced her jaw open and made her stick a finger deep inside her throat, causing her to regurgitate at that very moment. He then tossed her body into a nearby wall and watched her fall to the floor. When he spoke again he was no longer yelling, "Because I can do that, I believe that I am better than you. I believe mutants are not homosapiens like you normal backwashed humans; I believe we are homosuperiors -- superior to you and everything you've ever accomplished. More than anything, ladies and gentlemen, you should be glad that I'm **not **forcing my views and beliefs on you."

-=-=-

Rogue lifted tossed her brown, leather jacket aside before beginning to hover in the air. Her yellow and green uniform was already covered in mud on the heels of her shoes, but the drizzling rain just rolled down the water-resistant fabric. She tied her hair in a tight ponytail, knowing how windy things could get when Storm was involved. After all these pre-battle preparations were made she began to float higher and higher in the air, all the while looking for any signs of the camouflaged Storm and Scarlet Witch. "Storm! We know you're here! Come out!" Rogue screamed at the top of her lungs, easily revealing her upbringing in Mississippi as her southern accent echoed.

Down below Jean and Scott treaded through the muddy terrain. Cyclops had his hand always ready on his visor and Jean stayed behind his bulky frame, feeling much more comfortable behind a man of muscles. "Jean, try locating them by using their minds as a homing beacon," Cyclops said in almost a whisper, looking in every direction before he took another step.

The Scarlet Witch jumped out of a tree and kicked Jean in the back, knocking her into the mud and causing Cyclops to instinctively turn around and shoot at whatever moved. His optic blast, at high power, show from his eyes in a bright red light, whizzing through the air as a controlled beam of energy. Then suddenly, the stern blast began to bend and the energy suddenly turned around in direction and flew directly for Scott's chest. He had forgotten how dangerous the Scarlet Witch could be and that a long range attack such as that was never going to work. But by the time he remembered the blast connected with his chest and the mere impact sent him flying back through the mud and into a tree where he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Jean tried to telekinetically lift the Scarlet Witch, but the telekinetic grasp simply turned back on her and sent Jean up into the air and then let her fall back into the mud. "X-Woman," the Scarlet Witch smiled, "I'll make this easier for you. Obviously I can tear you apart if you try to use your abilities on me. So, let's have a no-powers fight and see which one of us comes out on top. After all, it's the only fair way to handle this."

Jean growled, her green eyes looking at Wanda ferociously, but she managed to say, in a horrendous grumble, "Agreed!" Jean jumped out of the mud and sent a hard kick towards Wanda's ribcage.

Meanwhile, Rogue was floating near the bottom of the clouds, still searching for Storm. She yelled with her high-pitched voice for Storm to reveal herself. Her wish was about to come true. A thunder sounded and a break in the clouds allowed a ray of sunlight to shine on Rogue's body as if she were on a stage with the spotlight directed to her body. Storm quickly appeared afterwards with another rumble of thunder and another break in the clouds. The two hovered about one foot from each other.

"You asked for me, Rogue," Storm said with no sign of emotional expression on her face. "Here I am."


	7. New Threat

Title: The Master and the Mistress 

**Author: **Viral

**Author's Notes: **In response to the reviews: I understand the concern about Ororo's apparel – however, I tried to keep in mind that the Brotherhood is not well funded like the X-Men and Storm decided to join the team's venture on very short notice. So with all that in mind her clothes are basically civilian. Sadly I'm artistically challenge and am unable, at this time, to provide you with a picture of the outfit.

-=-=-=-

Rogue studied Storm with her green eyes, looking the Windrider up and down. She immediately took note of the high-heeled black boots that extended under blue, hip-hugging pants that resembled jeans but was clearly designed as some type of armor. Continuing upward was a white shirt, sleeves extended only to the elbows. Cleavage showed only slightly as the shirt made a "V" down from the shoulders. Her white hair was now clipped into a loose bun with strands hanging on the side of her face and some on the back of her neck.

"So not only did you betray us," Rogue said with a sharp tongue. "But you abandoned everything that would remind you of us?"

"Rogue, you must understand," Storm reasoned, her blue eyes showing no signs of emotion or thought because they were completely white as gentle breezes continued to sustain her body in the air. "The Friend's of Humanity were becoming more and more uncontrollable and we... the X-Men weren't doing anything about it. But Magneto was. My intent was never to betray or abandon."

"Oh yeah, someone who hasn't abandoned her friends is gonna try and kill them by knocking them out of the sky," Rogue said sarcastically, frowning as she did so.

"It was all apart of the plan," she said, still trying to persuade her friend to accept the choice she made. "There was never any intent you harm any of you –- Wanda and I worked together to insure none of you would be fatally injured by the attack."

"It doesn't matter Storm!" Rogue yelled. Her green eyes welled up with tears, "You were one of the few people Ah trusted. We were close friends... Ah told you my secrets and you told me yours. When there was no one else in that mansion that could understand where Ah was coming from, you was there for me." She sniffed and wiped her tears with a gloved hand. "We were like family, Ororo."

"We are still family," Storm sighed, opening her arms to her troubled friend.

Below their conversation Wanda and Jean were just getting into fighting mode. Jean's green eyes looked coldly at Wanda as she sent a jab towards her. Wanda grabbed Jean's wrist as the jab came forward and pulled the X-Woman closer to her. A quick ninja-type chop hit Jean in the ribcage, which was countered with a kick from Jean. Wanda fell on the muddy ground, her red outfit becoming brown and damp in the process. However, this was not time for fashion sense. She quickly responded by wrapping her two feet around Jean's ankle and the red head quickly joined Wanda in the mud. Without much else to do they were quickly back on their feet, eyes peeled on each other as they walked in circles, one waiting for the other to bust a move.

"You're not half bad," Wanda joked, looking the muddy Jean Grey up and down as she balled up her fist.

"Enough with the pleasantries," Jean said softly before getting back into action. She quickly jumped into the air and performed a roundhouse kick, which made an impact on the Scarlet Witch's torso, knocking her off balance but not sending her to the ground. Wanda held her side before looking angrily to Jean. Wanda tried for a high kick, but Jean blocked it, so she tried for a punch. Jean grabbed her arm and held it firmly. Another punch. Jean grabbed her other wrist.

Wanda struggled to get out of the amateur hold before she saw Jean lift her head up towards the sky with widened eyes, "Rogue... NO!"

Up in the air Rogue and Storm joined for an embrace, Storm oblivious to the fact that Rogue had been executing modes of trickery during the entire conversation. There was more than one way to skin a cat. An ungloved gently touched Storm's neck as the two friends hugged  and Storm suddenly lost her strength.

"Rogue," she said, gentleness overcoming her voice. "Why?"

But Rogue couldn't answer if she wanted to. She had done the unthinkable... she had absorbed the very essence of nature and as Storm's silent body began to fall from the sky Rogue's body rose higher and higher as a downpour of rain began to fall. Flooding was imminent.

"My word!" Jean said, letting go of Wanda's wrists. "We'll have to finish this another day sister."

"Agreed," Wanda said looking up to the sky and the very first signs of a tornado forming. "Oh no."

"I'll get Ororo down here safely," Jean said, floating in the air as she spoke. "You get Scott and find somewhere safe!" She was now yelling over the sound of wind and thunder.

-=-=-

Xavier's wheelchair hovered through the massively destroyed hallways of the White House. He passed fallen security guards, trying his best to control his humanitarian personality and ignore their painful moans. He looked down at his watch. It stopped; it was completely magnetized. That meant Magneto was near.

Xavier gasped as he felt a sudden rumble in the building and heard the crashing and shattering of glass behind him as a picture fell off the wall. He could faintly hear horrendous thunder coming from outside and hoped for the safety of his team. His hands balled into a tight fist and he clenched his jaw. There was far too much to think about and far too much tension for an old man to handle on his own.

He continued moving through the hall, finding no standing security and no type of resistance. It seemed that Magneto was definitely on a mission and left no margin for error. Xavier knew he was in the right place when he reached an open hole in the wall where large doors were once standing. Inside he felt the compelling force of a magnetic field and could hear Magneto speaking in his deep, vibrating voice.

"Charles, I'm glad you could make it," Magneto said all of a sudden. Xavier's wheelchair reluctantly floated into the room where several Congressional leaders were sitting and fearfully watching Magneto's every move and listening to his every word. "Ladies, gentlemen, I would like you to meet Professor Charles Xavier."

The Professor frowned, never taking a moment's peek at the rest of the room, "Magnus, what-– why are you doing this?"

"Two nights ago a branch of the Friend's of Humanity slaughtered hundreds of mutants and were not charged with any crime at all," Magnus explained, becoming enraged as he recounted the events. "Why? Because mutants are not considered human by the law – therefore murdering us is like disposing of trash. The X-Men, your faulty group that hopes of a silly co-existence between humans and mutants, have done nothing but sit around. There is no more time for passive stratagems, Charles. It is time to be proactive. That is why I am here."

"But the measures at which you are being proactive are illegal," Charles explained. "Don't you understand that by coming here violently you are counterattacking your own goals?"

"We've been through this before," Magneto yelled. "Homosapiens fear mutants because they do not understand who we are. They will not listen to us because they lack that understanding... and we will never be heard unless we make them listen!"

"They've heard what you have to say!" the Professor said at the top of his lungs. "Now it's time to let them decide!"

"They've heard me but my point has not been made!" Magneto yelled back. He angrily lifted his hand in the air and sent the Professor, in his wheelchair, flying towards one of the walls in the room. The Professor yelled as the chair impacted and his head jolted backwards and forward.

"Hey, leave the Professor alone!" a Senator from Illinois shouted before the entire room began to shake and rumble. These two distractions took Magneto's mind off Xavier and the bald Professor fell on the floor, handicapped and in pain. It was at this instance, as well, that a ray of red light passed through the air and punctured through Magneto's cape and armor. The attack laser put Magneto's majestic cape to flames and made the master of magnetism fall to the floor in pain as a gentle flow of blood leaked from his back. Before he could stand or even realize what had happened another red light zipped through the tense, dim room and into Magneto's shoulder. Another punctured his leg, and another easily burned his calf.

"Ah!" he yelled in pain, sending out a harsh wave of radioactive fields before throwing his cape to the floor. He looked around the room and saw one of the Senators with a high-tech laser weapon in his hand, pointing it at Magneto. Although on the floor and dealing with the feeling of hot, stingy, flames at four different places in his skin he lifted his hand towards the man with the intent to kill him. Another shot from the laser was aimed directly for Magneto's forehead. This time it did not burn through, but it knocked the protective headgear from Magneto's white hair.

However, there was going to be no more attacks by this laser gun. With his arm outstretched Magneto lifted the man into the air and began to tear his body apart from the inside out. Anger overwhelmed his red face as he gasped for air and maintained the attack.

Suddenly a sharp pain marched through his mind, daring him to say or do anything else. His arm fell and he dropped his head on the floor, mentally begging his nerves for mercy. The pain was overwhelming and the burns in his skin became more apparent now than before. "Charles, why are you doing this to me?" Magneto asked, weakily, knowing that Xavier was responsible for the sharp headache and the incoming onslaught that was ready to incapacitate his mind.

"You gave me no choice, old friend," the Professor said, getting ready to send the final mental blow into Magneto's mind.

Then, without warning, a wave of water rushed into the building, freeing everyone from Magneto's magnetic field and now releasing taking him or her outside.

The flooding waters were high and showed no signs of receding – almost completely covering the White House by now. The water was dark, muddy, and murky with cars sitting at the bottom and dead bodies moving along with the current.

"Can't you do something to reverse all of this stuff?" Jean yelled over the sound of thunder. She sat under a huge tree on the cliff where Magneto, Wanda, and Ororo had been originally scouting. That water's almost reaching up here."

"It's too wide scale," Wanda explained. "And I can't even reach Rogue. She's too high up."

"Great! Just what we needed!" Jean complained. "Someone who controls the weather and has no idea what she's doing! She's going to kill us and then kill herself and not even know what she's doing!"

"Not... if I, ugh," Storm said, slowly awakening from the sleep that Rogue had put her in. She felt weaker than she did before she had gone into the odd rest. "Can help it."

"Ororo?" Wanda said, behind down at her side as she lay dry under the huge tree. "You're tired, friend. There's nothing you can do."

"Where," she said, trying to utter her words as clearly as possible. "Is Erik?"

"He and Charles were in the White House," Jean said, placing a hand on Ororo's forehead and then holding her hand. "But now the entire building is completely covered in water. There out there somewhere." When Jean looked away from the cliff once more the entire historic district of Washington DC looked like the dirty Hudson River she had become accustomed to in New York. Just wide -- and nothing but water and debris.

"We must find them," Storm said, trying to raise her head from the ground. "If there are enough ionic compounds in that water," she began and then paused, moaning from her body aches that resulted from the awkward sleep. "A single lightning bolt will fry everything in that water. And Rogue does not know what she's doing."

"I found them!" Jean yelled suddenly. "The Professor has Magneto and has been trying to telepathically reach me all this time!"

"Hurry!" Wanda said. "Maybe the Professor can help us shut Rogue down!"

Jean flew off the cliff, telekinetically supporting herself under the torrential rain. Meanwhile, Storm painstakingly tried to stand up, trying her best to shake off the sleep. "I must stop her," she said. A gentle breeze began to flow under her body, slowly lifting her in the air. She dropped back to the ground.

"Rest, Ororo," Wanda said, wrapping an arm around the weakened Windrider. "We will figure out what to do." Hope slightly mustered inside of Ororo's chest despite the horrendous lightning strikes that threatened to touch down in the water with a moment's notice.


	8. The Good Outweights the Bad

**Title: **The Master and the Mistress

**Author:** Viral

**Author's Notes: **I apologize for the wait – I seem to have lost my original conclusion ideas for this fiction, so… Ah yes, the events in this chapter happen over a **very** short period of time. So although this whole scene may seem drawn out – it just isn't.

-=-=-=-

Wet, red hair laid like a dingy mop on Jean's head and face as she flew through the rough wind, over the water that had flooded much of Washington D.C.'s historic district. In the distance she a tornado churning the water upward into the dark skies and then was sending it out again in gushes with debris still intact.  "Professor! I'm almost there! Hold on a little longer!" she exclaimed telepathically, worried for her surrogate father.

Wanda did her best to protect Jean by bending stray lightning bolts in directions that wouldn't hurt her and stopping waves of water from overtaking her, but there was little else she could do. She stood on the cliff, Ororo's drained body still wrapped in her arms and Scott slowly reawakening under the tree where he had been put.

The rain and wind distorted his vision and his ruby quartz eyepiece didn't make things easier for him to see. He managed to make out Ororo's standing almost limply in Wanda's arms. He fought to stand up and then put his hands up to his eyepiece and leaned against the tree. An optic blast hit the ground next to Wanda's feet to get her attention. Ororo turned around to see Scott standing there, prepared to fire a much more deadly shot. "Cyclops! What are you doing?" she yelled in a condescending tone.

"I'm gonna ask nicely the first time: what the heck is going on?" he asked, his eyes still glowing with red light energy.

"What does it look like, bright _eye_? Rogue tricked Storm and stole her powers and now she can't control them! Your Professor and my father are stuck out in the water and Jean's trying her best to find them before they get fried! And we have only a little bit of time to knock the skunk out of the sky before that tornado rips the whole county to shreds!" Wanda yelled without taking a breath.

He ignored his bloody chest as he normally did his injuries in the heat of battle. No matter how hard he was hurting, as leader he had a job to do. "I'm going to try my best to shoot her down," Scott said, stepping forward to the edge of the cliff near Wanda and Ororo. "Just... if I'm off a little bit, I need you to change the direction of the blast."

"I can't affect the blast that high in the air," Wanda informed him. "You're gonna have to shoot with some accuracy this time, pretty boy."

Scott took a deep breath and then steadied his body, trying his best to create the least amount of movement that was possible. He took aim, closed his eyes, and then opened them again and felt the warm sensation exit his eyes and watched it rush through the air and towards Rogue's hovering body. Much to his dissatisfaction he did not hit her. 

Instead, Rogue looked down at the three bodies on the cliff, feeling even more betrayed. Her green eyes were completely covered by the lightning that played in her eyes and danced at her red-painted fingernails. Her eyebrows pointed inward with resentment as the elements continued to physically display her fury. She pointed her hands at the cliff and immediately several lightning bolts jumped from the clouds and down towards them. With less than second to react at the electricity moving at the speed of light, Ororo pulled the lightning bolts in her direction and felt them suck into her body. She channeled the bolts into her hands and then sent them back into the sky where they soon dissipated.

Rogue once again lost control of her own mind and found herself just reveling in the elements. This gave Scott plenty of time to use his strategic mind to come up with a plan. "Wanda – I know this is a stretch of your powers, but you change probabilities so maybe it's not. Could you possibly speed up Ororo's recovery time from Rogue's absorption?"

"What?!" Wanda asked in disbelief. She had never thought of doing anything like that, much less had she attempted to do it.

"I said –"

"I heard what you said," Wanda interrupted. "It just seems so unreasonable."

"Storm's the only person I know that can take a maelstrom and turn it into a sunny day," Scott explained. "She's our only chance of any physical aggression towards Rogue to get her out of the sky."

Wanda closed her eyes and focused everything she had ever learned into this seemingly impossible task. Sure, she could change probabilities – but what were the limits? How far could she go? And what did it really mean to warp the possibilities of things that would happen? Her long black hair was pinned against her head with moisture while she tried her best not to focus on the fact that there was a twenty percent chance that the opposite of what she was trying to do would happen...

-=-=-

"Ah, good Jesus!" Jean exclaimed, barely being missed by a lose piece of metal shards that had been dislodged from the tornado that she was flying towards. She put up a telekinetic shield and shivered when she began seeing a collection of dead bodies in the water and a reddish tint to the deep brown that she had been flying over. "Rest in peace," she prayed in respectful silence as she kept the bulk of her mind focused on finding the Professor.

"Jean, hurry! Look to your right!" the Professor yelled mentally. Jean turned her head immediately and saw him holding on to an iron bar still in tact to a fairly tall office building. His fingers looked as if they were covered in blood, and probably were. He held Magneto in his other arm, trying his best to keep his old friend's head above the water.

"Professor!" Jean screamed in a spontaneous blurt of relief. He felt the pressure on his biceps lessen as Jean telekinetically lifted his body and Magneto's. "Charles, what happened to him?" Jean asked, pointing her eyes at Magneto's hovering body as she focused most of her strength on trying to keep the three of them above the water and out of the grasp of the speeding tornado, which threatened to come in their direction at any given moment.

"I put his mind at rest," the Professor said. "And I think I may have to do the same to Rogue," he noted, evidently trying to create a transition into further discussion on how to get Rogue out of the sky.

"Do you think you can do that without Cerebro? She's pretty much out of my reach when she's up that high unless I telekinetically pull her down – but I wouldn't want to risk having her create a maelstrom even worse than this one."

"But it seems the cavalry has finally arrived," the Professor grinned, mentally noticing the arrival of the X-Men who had been sent to New York to battle the Brotherhood in a helicopter.

-=-=-

"It was heck trying to get in the city," Jubilee said, coming out of the helicopter, followed by Wolverine, Gambit, Iceman, Colossus, and Shadowcat.

"You've handled our business in NYC?" Scott asked Gambit, who had been appointed as field leader for that portion of the team.

"When Gambit is in the lead, the job always gets down, Scotty," Gambit grinned before noticing Wanda and Storm encased in a bright light. "What's going on?"

After explaining the situation to the best of his ability, Scott began doing what he did best: give out orders, but was interrupted when the light shining on Storm's body became increasingly blinding and the Windrider stood up from her weakened stature to the full blown regal, queen of nature that everyone had become accustomed to. Wanda stood behind her, her hands still outstretched towards Storm's rejuvenated body.

Storm's body began to hover in the air, her white hair blowing loosely around her face as she stretched her arms upwards and pointed her hands toward the gray clouds. Immediately the torrential rains began to stop and little rays of sunshine began to poke through the thinning clouds. The X-Men watched from their helpless position below on the cliff as the next phase of their mission took place amongst the sky-dwellers. "Rogue, your time is up!" Storm yelled with fury, flying at subsonic speeds while calming the maelstrom Rogue had created. "You are a slithering traitor and you shall be stopped!"

Rogue frowned and her destructive emotions continued to battle Storm's calming of the weather patterns. For a second the rain would start and then stop. Tornadoes would begin their formation and then completely disappear. The temperature fluctuated frequently between freezing and beginning-of-Summer warmth. "Ah'm the traitor? That thur is some bull! You sabotaged ya own friends and then try and kill us. Ororo, honey, you is the traitor!" After screaming her last sentence, Rogue pointed her right hand at Storm's hovering body and before the eyes could register what was happening, a lightning bolt shot out of the clouds and crashed into Storm's body. Habitually, Storm channeled the electricity through her body as if she were a living lightning rod and sent the lightning bolt downward through her body.

"You must have forgotten, my dear friend, that the mistress controls her subjects and they obey her. You may have attempted to steal my powers but you cannot disrupt my connection. The elements obey my voice and my call!" A vortex of wind sent Rogue's body into a dizzying spin and ended five seconds after it started, only to be followed by a freak of nature: wind coming from all four directions towards her body and crushing her like a box. The force caused the air to be pushed out of her lungs and suffocate her until she began falling out of the air unconsciously.

-=-=-

_My thoughts,_

_ It is amazing how some decisions in your life can change the way you view the entire world and the worth of everything that you've ever done. When I decided to leave the X-Men I never knew how much it would affect my relationship with them or how it would create a new Ororo. The friendships that I spent years building are now nonexistent. I still spend time with Jean, Logan, and Remy – but it's not the way it used to be. Deep down, we all know that we may one day face off and there will be no room for mercy. I just pray that that day never comes._

_ I wholeheartedly believed in the Professor's dreams of human-mutant peace and I still do think it is possible, but the way he is going about accomplishing it is far too passive. Many of our great leaders in the past were peaceful humanitarians – true – but our conquerors, the people who made things happen, took action. Aggression when necessary. I believe Erik is this type of leader. I have been able to combine his tactics with Xavier's dreams. No longer are we the Brotherhood of 'Evil' Mutants. We are now a group who are making a difference – despite the cost. In place of many of my old friendships, I am building new ones. And with the lost of my surrogate father, I have found a companion._

_ Much to my amusement, I hear Rogue is still on a respirator. It is rather mean but she is a pain sometimes. How many times must we hear her prattle on and on about her sad life, her first kiss with Cody, and her inability to touch? She will complain until the day she dies – but right about now, I find pleasure in her angst. Sometimes I just want to pull her by her white stripe and throw her... Never mind. That's mean. Be good, Ororo._

_ Another bit of pleasing news I have is that Erik accomplished his goal! With scientific evidence, aggressive politics, and his sexy voice he managed to convince our nation's leaders make it law that mutants should be considered humans. Therefore, the genocide of mutants is a crime. We are now considered part of the "men who are created equal" – not physically or mentally equal, but equal in the sense that we should have the same inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness._

_ I still love Charles with all of my heart – but I can no longer support his endeavors._

Ororo read over her entry one last time before closing her journal and placing it under her pillow next to her knife. She left her bedroom and walked outside of the beautiful eight-bedroom house that had been constructed as a haven on a beautiful island off the east coast of the United States. Her bare feet walked through the sand and towards the calm coastline where she saw Erik's white hair resting on his chiseled back. He was shirtless with a pair of white pants on which were rolled up to his chins. She sat down on the blanket that he had laid out and looked at the picnic basket that was sitting there.

"I just can't get over it," Ororo said softly, standing behind him and looking at the translucent water. "The Master of Magnetism is actually a real person behind the whole 'Magneto' façade."

"Maybe it's just you who brings this side out of me," Erik said, standing up from his place on the towel. "Or maybe you're just seeing what you want to see." He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her in front of him. He then wrapped his arms around her waist and relaxed them on her stomach. She then placed her hands on top of his and laid the back of her head on his chest. Her blue eyes looked over to where Wanda, Pietro, Sabretooth, and Pyro were playing volleyball. Altogether they made a weird, awkward combination of people – but they were creating a team that would win equality for mutants, building friendships that would last a lifetime, and sculpting a diverse family that would give them all a place to call "home".

Erik gently kissed Ororo's chocolate-colored cheek and stared onto the water with her. This was merely the beginning of something much more beautiful to come.

-=-=-=-

Author's Closing Remarks: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story! :)


End file.
